Thirty-eight days before the Battle of Hot Springs.

Desik Imperial Capital, White Rock City, Military Affairs Tent, "Base Camp"!

"I will never agree!" General Jin angrily threw down the parchment scroll in his hand and stared viciously at the Grand Duke Edward on the main seat, "This is impossible, you are risking the lives of ten thousand wasteland warriors!"

Duke Edward didn't care about fiddling with a gold dagger in his hand, in the morning, the Western general gave him this gold dagger inlaid with dozens of gems, Duke Edward liked it very much, and he couldn't put it down all morning.

In the base camp, there are only nine people in total: Grand Duke Edward, the five generals of Desik, the chief of staff, the chief of intelligence and the chief of logistics, these are the only nine golden wolf-headed generals in Desik, and at this moment, they are all in this conference room.

What they discussed was an attack plan prepared by Archduke Edward and the Chief of Staff. 10,000 Steppenwolf cavalry will cross the Sunset Snow Mountain in the northern frontier, detour through the Southern Madur Kingdom of the Shang Alliance, and eat this small frontier country in one fell swoop from behind.

"Grand Duke, I saw the prototype of your plan three years ago, but I didn't expect you to really make it into an actual attack plan, but I still have that attitude, it's impossible. Ten thousand men, marching into the mountains from Desik, trekking hundreds of miles into the snow-capped mountains, and then going out of the mountains in South Madur, how many of our soldiers will be left? 6,000 men, half of them, or less?"

Archduke Edward did not speak, but the chief of staff on the side explained, "The Central Garrison General, even if there are only 3,000 men left, they are sure to defeat the defenders of Southern Madur. As long as we can attract reinforcements from Manning, then our plans are worth it. ”

General Jin looked at the plan carefully, "No, it's not that your plan is worth it, it's that your sacrifice is worth it. ”

The Chief of Staff nodded, "General Kim, you can also understand it that way. ”

"That's 10,000 wasteland warriors, not 10,000 border guards! Your Majesty the Emperor, it's absolutely impossible to agree to this plan!"

Hearing General Jin say this, Grand Duke Edward reacted instead, he put down the golden dagger in his hand and straightened his body: "General Jin!"

General Jin hurriedly gave a salute, "Grand Duke Edward!Lord~Xi (Note 1)!"

Edward waved his hand to show that he would not care, "It is my business to ask the Kaiser for instructions and obtain his consent." Of course, I know that the Wasteland Samurai are elite forces that only obey the orders of the royal family. But the execution of the plan is your business. So, I ask no, I command you to take a good look at this plan and cooperate in your work. And, if there is a leak, I will not let go of any of the people in this room. ”

General Kim sat down silently, skimmed the bald head opposite, and did not speak. Among the nine highest-ranking generals of the Desik Military Alliance, Archduke Edward is a well-deserved leader, and the three major generals, the Western generals and the Southern generals, are all his supporters, and this faction is quite radical. And General Kim and the General of the North and the General of the East are conservatives.

However, the existence of the Military Joint Council made it necessary for conservative generals, even if they disagreed politically, to put forward their own opinions on this battle plan to improve and supplement it. And all of Desik's military strategies must be approved by the Military Joint Council to take effect.

General Kim spent the next two hours absent-mindedly, not taking much into the heated discussions among the other generals, as well as his two allies.

The meeting ended after sunset, and General King's carriage returned to the Tavern of the Golden Tooth, where the Earl of Norton, who had long finished his day's work, warmed a jug of wine, and waited.

"I know what you see today, you can't tell me, even though I'm the prime minister of the Desik Empire. As soon as they met, Earl Norton spoke, "But if you don't say it, looking at your face, I can also understand that what you have seen today is absolutely very shocking." ”

General Jin slammed his hat on the table, "What can't be said, Edward is crazy, he wants to use 10,000 wasteland warriors to climb over the Sunset Snow Mountain, and then fight Nanmadur first." ”

"Oh, that's a good plan. Earl Norton listened to General King's words, but smiled and said, "From the point of view of the plan itself, this plan is very courageous, and it dares to make such a big sacrifice, but in terms of the benefits that can be expected, it is quite worthwhile." But I have a question, how is he going to convince His Majesty the Emperor to give him 10,000 Steppenwolf rides?"

General Jin didn't speak, drank his head for a long time, and then asked, "How is the investigation of that matter?"

Earl Norton shook his head, "Not good! The Dark Rise organization is quite tightly organized, and their infiltration in the Desik army is all one-line contact, and the few suspects we caught were quickly wiped out. But that's not the weirdest thing. ”

"Oh, what do you say?" General Kim suddenly became interested and sat up straight.

"My people have found that the Dark Rising organization seems to have more than one force in Desik, and their own forces also seem to be pulling each other's feet. I don't know what happened, but I know that this is an absolutely reliable inference. ”

"Does that help us in any way?"

Earl Norton shook his head again, "For now, nothing helps. ”

"Go!" General Jin took a sip of wine.

"But," Earl Norton said, "during the investigation, my men discovered something strange by accident, do you remember how long it has been since you met Archduke Bazemore?"

"Third Prince?" General Jin said strangely, "Why did you mention him suddenly?"

Earl Norton smiled mysteriously, "You are a soldier and I am a politician, I didn't mention him suddenly, as a mature politician, I have been contacting him for a long time." ”

"Why?"

The current Kaiser "Wilhelm IV" is no longer young, he has only three sons, the late Prince Ferdinand, Archduke Edward, and the third prince, Archduke Bazemore. After the assassination of Prince Ferdinand, the crown prince could only be succeeded by one of the two remaining princes, even though the older Archduke Edward was the natural successor.

But as a politician, it is an inevitable choice to make a public announcement to the third prince, Bazemore. Therefore, not long after Prince Ferdinand was assassinated, the Earl of Norton sent people to the north to find the third prince.

The third prince, Archduke Bazemore, this person is very strange, he hardly stays in Baiyan City, but in the name of scientific research, he wanders in the north all year round.

When the Earl of Norton was presiding over the search of the Dark Rising organization throughout Desik, he unexpectedly encountered Archduke Bazemore in the small northern city of "Oakland City".

"Auckland City" is a small town on the northern border of Desik, not far from the city is the Sunset Snow Mountain, where the ice and snow are perennial, the people of the city live by hunting and fishing, and there are only a small town of more than 800 people, why it attracted the stay of the Grand Duke of Bazemore surprised the investigators.

What's even more surprising is still to come, once the investigators become suspicious, they naturally don't think about it, follow all the way, and finally find out what Archduke Bazemore is doing at the foot of Sunset Mountain.

"What is he doing?" General Kim was interested.

"You don't believe it!" Earl Norton slapped the table hard, "He, the third prince, is actually practicing magic!"

"Ahh

Of course, as a magician, Grand Duke Bazemore is quite sensitive to his surroundings. The Earl of Norton's men were soon discovered. The man was also clever, and quickly identified himself and was just a little curious. Archduke Bazemore didn't care, and let the man go.

"What do you want to say? The third prince practiced magic, that was his freedom. As we all know, the ban on magic is unbinding on the high nobility of various countries. "Except for being surprised that the third prince actually had some magical talents, General Jin didn't particularly care.

"Listen to me, Kim, there's more to come. "Not long after my men left, he discovered that there was another group of men in the tiny city of Auckland, led by Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of the former Crown Prince Ferdinand!"

At this time, General Jin couldn't help but be surprised, "Princess Elizabeth, the princess Elizabeth who lives in a shallow way?"

Earl Norton nodded.

"What is she doing there?" exclaimed General Kim.

"I don't know. My people didn't dare to stay long, so they rushed back to White Rock City and told me the news. Earl Norton smiled mysteriously, "Do you remember that mysterious letter from Black Harbor?"

"The letter?" General Kim's mind instantly recalled the strange room and the mysterious imprint, "You mean?"

"Yes, I suspect now that it was the Third Prince, Archduke Bazemore, who left us a letter!"

"Your speculation is not arbitrary?" General Jin still couldn't believe it.

"Of course I'm not talking about it casually, I still have evidence, you come here. "Earl Norton leaned in on General King.

Late at night, General King and Earl Norton said goodbye at the door of the Golden Tooth Tavern, and watched Count Norton move his body and step by step into his carriage, and the carriage turned around the corner and could no longer be seen, so General King returned to his carriage and told the coachman, "Let's go, go home." ”

The coachman flicked the whip, and there was a clear whip sound, and the carriage started slowly.

General Kim, who had drunk a little too much, rested with his head resting on the wall of the carriage with his eyes closed, and the wheels of the carriage "gurgling" rhythmically, which seemed unusually harsh on the streets of the quiet White Rock City.

General Jin opened his eyes, "What's the matter, the car driver drove today, I always feel a little unstable." Feige, what's going on?"

The coachman outside coughed, "I'm sorry General, I'm a little sick today, my fault, I'll drive a little slower!"

General Jin has no doubt that he is there, this Feige is one of the three coachmen in his family, and has been driving in the General's Mansion for several years. "Maybe I'm really sick!" General Kim muttered to himself.

At this moment, there was a "crunching" sound from the quiet street, and that sound, in White Rock City at night, was extremely strange!

"Not good!" General Jin snorted and quickly fell on the carriage.

Note 1: Archduke Edward is the chief ~ seat of the Desik Military Coalition, so General King calls him so here.